Looking at unhoused statistics in Sioux City

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — According to a study conducted by Sioux City Neighborhood Services , in 2024, Sioux City has seen a total of 295 unhoused persons. That’s only 19 more than 2023, but quite an increase from 2022, where the numbers were as low as 212.

“In our official numbers we haven’t seen a great increase, so it’s been pretty consistent, but we have noticed that things are changing a little bit around the visibility of homelessness,” outreach supervisor Clara Coly said. “We’ve seen a lot more folks panhandling, which doesn’t necessarily mean that they are homeless, but we’ve seen that increase downtown.”

Neighborhood Services attributes part of the increase to the removal of COVID-19 assistance funding following the pandemic.

“A lot of people were relying on that kind of assistance, and I mean a lot of people,” Coly said. “There wasn’t a replacement for those kinds of services, and that kind of funding for rental assistance, utility assistance, forbearance on rent, and that kind of thing, so we’ve seen a lot of people not able to get out of those holes.”

According to their stats, 74 adults on the coordinated entry list for homelessness assistance have an income, earning $500 – $1000. Of those, 29 have earned income, 44 have Social Security, and the rest receive unemployment or child support.

“There’s kind of an assumption on what homelessness is, but it’s really diverse in every way,” Coly said. “A lot of folks, it has to do with the assistance that’s gone away, but then it could be because they lost a job, it could be that they still have a job but they’re underemployed and they’re just not able to make ends meet and they’re not able to continue renting at their apartment.”

According to their count, the age demographic that sees the most unhoused is the 35-44 years old group.

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